


Skin Deep

by haganenoheichou



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Eruri Secret Santa 2017, M/M, Mentions Of Infidelity, Pre-Slash, Snowed In, Tattoo Removal, cursing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-23
Updated: 2017-12-23
Packaged: 2019-02-19 05:47:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13117320
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/haganenoheichou/pseuds/haganenoheichou
Summary: Erwin Smith is a laser tattoo removal technician who decided to work on Christmas. Levi Ackerman is a guy who wants something burnt off his skin. Somehow, a conversation happens. Written for the Eruri Secret Santa 2017 event.





	Skin Deep

**Author's Note:**

> For my giftee, [niuniente](http://niuniente.tumblr.com), who gave me a tattoo prompt, and I kinda decided to go in a bit of a different direction with that one. Hope you like it! Happy Holidays!

It was cold outside, Erwin noted impassively as he glanced out the window, wondering when his next appointment was going to grace him with his presence. It was already a quarter past, and the guy was nowhere in sight. Erwin supposed he couldn’t blame him, really. They had been snowed in for the best part of the week, which meant that traffic was the biggest nightmare since the same thing had happened last year.

It was like the city authorities had no idea that it snowed every winter. Every single time, they were baffled by its appearance and by the time they scrambled their equipment to help clear the streets, it was already too late.

He leaned back in his seat, wondering what this new person would bring. An inscription in broken, Google-translated Mandarin? A tramp stamp? A goddamn infinity symbol, of which Erwin had removed seemingly hundreds over the past few years? One thing he could say for sure was that working in tattoo removal was never dull.

Hanji had once told him that he was a weirdo for doing it. Because he got to witness people's regrets and single-handedly get rid of them to varying degrees of success. He burnt those regrets out over the course of months and left behind a scar to remind them that though the thing was gone, its consequences lingered. It was almost poetic, in a way.

Much more fun than getting rid of moles and hair; too bad he had bills to pay, and he was forced to dabble in things that were less entertaining as well, to make ends meet. It wasn’t a glamorous job, but at least it brought money.

“Hey.”

He looked up and flinched when he realized he’d been so lost in thought he hadn’t even noticed his new customer come in. Clad in a bulky ski jacket, the man was wrapped in a sweater that almost reached his eyes. On his head was a hat topped off with a small mound of snow.

“Oh, apologies," Erwin said quickly, standing up to grab a hanger and offer it to the man who promptly divested himself of the jacket, hanging it up with an expression of disgust on his face. He grabbed his hat and the scarf and ripped them off, stuffing them into his jacket sleeve hurriedly.

“You must be Mister Ackerman,” Erwin said and stuck out his hand. Mister Ackerman glanced at it and then back up at Erwin before shaking it briefly.

“Levi.”

Levi’s hand was cold as ice. 

“Erwin.”

Levi nodded and slipped his hand away.  

“Would you like to warm up a little first?” Erwin offered. “You’re my last appointment of the day, so–,”

"I want to get this over with," Levi said tersely, looking around as if he was searching for Erwin's office just to march in and grab the equipment and do it himself.

Erwin was a little thrown by his attitude. The irritable young man seemed to be getting even more so by the second, though, so he let it slide in favor of showing Levi into his office where the laser machine stood in the corner, humming continually.

“So, what do you have for me?” Erwin asked, seeing as Levi seemed to be eager to get down to business. He gestured towards the cot in the middle of the room, already prepared for the next client. Levi hopped on it and rolled up his sleeve.

A name.

Erwin was almost disappointed in how common this one was. From someone like this Levi, strangely un-talkative as he was, he would have expected something weirder. Like Sponge Bob in a bikini or something.

Erwin knew better than to ask about the reason this name was on there or why it was getting removed, so he just sat down, adjusted the laser and snapped on his gloves. He disinfected the area – a small patch of skin on the man’s forearm – and grabbed the handpiece.

“I’ll do a test first, to see if it’s not too much,” he said. Levi was pretty pale, so it shouldn't be any problem, but he had to do it, as per procedure. His words seemed to bristle the young man who just shrugged as if he were trying to avoid an annoying fly.

What a joy to be around. Erwin supposed this was why the man was here on Christmas Day, instead of at a party, like a normal person. He was probably a party pooper.

Then again, Erwin had picked this day to work, so he couldn’t really say anything.

“This will sting.”

“Get on with it.”

Rolling his eyes at the man's attitude, Erwin got to work. Like all clients, Levi twitched a little when the first laser beam touched his skin but then relaxed his fist, making it easier for Erwin to work on.

It was a tiny tattoo, compared to the ones Erwin usually worked with, and the ink was pretty shitty, so he got done quite quickly, brushing panthenol over the newly-singed skin and instructing Levi on how to care for it in monotone. The smaller man appeared utterly disinterested, but the song and dance had to be done.

They walked back to the desk in the main room, and Levi took out his wallet and paid for the procedure in cash. Erwin made a show of counting the money, even though it was just three bills, as Levi tugged on his heavy coat and perched the now-wet hat onto his head.

"You can come back in a month and a half for the next one," Erwin said by ways of a goodbye. Levi nodded, murmuring something about calling Erwin when it was time to make an appointment. Then he opened the door.

He was met with a huge gust of wind, carrying with it a flurry of white, and for a moment, he stood there, in the doorway of Erwin’s shop, frozen like the winter outside. His outline was comically small and almost fluffy, what with the thick coat, against the stark black-and-whiteness of the outside.

The door slammed shut.

“You can’t go out there,” Erwin said, watching Levi from his desk as he placed the money into the cash register.

“I can’t go out there,” Levi said, turning around to give the blond an exasperated look. Oh-ho, would you look at that! Emotion.

“I can’t go out there either,” Erwin murmured. “Even though you’re my last client for the day.”

They just looked at each other for a long moment; two people who had nothing in common besides the now raised, inflamed tissue of Levi’s wrist. Then, the shorter man began unraveling his coat again to replace it on the hanger.

Somehow, they ended up sitting on the wooden floor of Erwin's office; their backs slumped against the wall. Erwin was supposed to drop by a party tomorrow, and he'd stopped by a liquor store to get some good wine. Well, it was an expensive wine, anyhow. He had no idea if this wine was good or not. He was more of a vermouth guy himself.

Still, the uncertainty of the wine’s quality didn’t stop them from corking it open with a pocket knife. It was almost gone by the end of the first hour, and by the end of the third, they sat in comfortably awkward semi-darkness.

They talked about the weather. Erwin’s decision to stop being a law student and to become a laser removal technician instead. Levi’s job at the animal shelter. Their shared love for Mark Millar’s comics.

Debussy. After Eight chocolates. Levi’s dental appointment next month. Erwin’s nasty rash last year.

Erwin’s mother’s funeral. Levi’s experience in the foster care system.

“So… who’s Petra?” Erwin finally asked, squinting at the clock which showed eleven at night. The storm raged on outside, probably snowing them in for good.

Levi’s mouth quirked up. “You were waiting all night to ask me this, weren’t you?”

Erwin inclined his head.

“My wife. Soon to be ex-wife, I guess,” Levi said with a sigh.

“Hence your removal appointment?” Erwin asked.

“Yeah,” Levi breathed. His shoulder brushed against Erwin's, but he didn't shy away from the touch. 

“Cheated on me. More than that, actually. Told me two days ago that she was leaving.”

“Bitch.”

Levi snorted. “Yeah, maybe. Or maybe it was supposed to be like that. I don’t know. I wasn’t the best… husband. Maybe Oluo will be.”

“Oluo?” Erwin repeated.

“The guy she’s leaving me for,” Levi explained. “Oluo.”

“That’s a stupid name.”

“His face is even more stupid.”

“Stupid Oluo.”

“Fuck Oluo.”

They shared a chuckle.

Levi sighed deeply. “I should have known. I mean, coulda woulda shoulda but I really… It makes sense.”

“If it makes sense, why’d you get the tattoo?” Erwin asked. He knew the answer already.

“Drunk night in college,” Levi said with a shrug. “You know the story.”

“Yeah,” Erwin said. “I know the story.”

Levi glanced at him. “Am I a cliché?”

They shared a silent moment.

“A little.”

Levi's laughter was warm. "Wanna hear something even worse?”

“What?” Erwin asked.

“It’s my birthday.”

“No!” Erwin gasped in mocking disbelief, and Levi shoved him.

“Yeah. She left me two days before my birthday.”

“Fuck Petra. You share a birthday with Baby Jesus,” Erwin said.

Levi laughed out loud at that. “I’m Jewish.”

“Oh.”

“You?”

“Eh, raised Catholic,” Erwin said. “Never believed a word of it.”

“So why the fuck are we celebrating?” Levi gestured to the empty bottle.

“Why the fuck not?”

Their laughed was drowned out by another howling gust of wind.

The next morning, they woke up in a heap on the floor. Erwin had drooled on Levi. Levi was hungover because he was apparently a lightweight.

Erwin put more panthenol on Levi’s tattoo. He placed the tube into Levi’s massive jacket pocket, along with his number.

Then he locked up, and they both walked out the door.


End file.
